Posts Tagged bug out plans
Bug out bag topics
Over the years I have seen one topic that has been repeated over and over, and that is the topic of the bug out bag.
In reality, a bug out bag should contain copies of important papers, house title, car title, insurance policies, change of clothes, snack, or even 2 – 3 days worth of food, change of clothes, phone number contact list, and any prescription medicines you might be taking. The list will vary depending on the person and what they want to bring with them.
People that live close to railroad tracks or chemical plants might be asked to flee their homes due to a chemical release accident. The bug out bag is for people to grab, run, and have some basic supplies with them.
In fantasy, the bug out bag will be used to bug out to the wilderness when society collapses.
This video pokes fun at the different viewpoints on bug out bags.
Hastily assembled and ill equipped survival plans
Science channel Saturday morning of July 30, 2011 had a program on about Kublai Khan, and his doomed fleet that tried to invade Japan.
During excavations of the ocean floor, scientist discovered that most of the ships in the fleet were flat bottom river boats. River boats do not have a keel like what ocean going ships have. The keel helps ocean going ships weather large waves, while flat bottom boats will capsize.
It appears that Kublai Khan was in a hurry to invade Japan, so he ill equipped his navy with the wrong type of ship. This short sight meant the fleet was lost in a storm.
How does the example of Kublai Khan apply to survivalism?
Those that do not take the time to properly prepare are doomed to fail. The key word there is “properly” prepare. Kublai Khan had his army, weapons, armor, supplies, ships,,,,,. But the ships were the wrong type of ship, they were not ship designed for oceans, they were designed for rivers.
In the survivalist community, there are a lot of people that plan on grabbing their bug out bag, bugging out to the wilderness and living off the land. There are lots of problems with that situation, such as being able to find enough food, diseases, illness, vitamin and mineral decencies,,, only to name a few.
Back in November and December of 2010, a buddy of mine and I spent 3 days on the Angelina river camping and trying to live off the land. During those 3 days I did not see a single wild hog or whitetail deer. Some deer came close to the camp site at night, but I did not see anything during the day. We caught a few catfish, but not enough to feed a group of people with. In order to catch enough fish to live off of, we would have had to have people fishing all day long.
Ideas for a get home bag
Get Home Bag Ideas
If I had to walk home, here are some items that I would like to have in my get home bag.
32 ounce water bottle
Rain poncho – even a light duty one
LED light, something like a Surefire G2X Pro
Mainstay rations
Road map
Phone number / contact list
Rope – 550 cord
Multi-tool
Small first aid kit
Paper, pen and sharpie / felt tip magic marker
Money – at least $20
One of the first packs that comes to mind is the Maxpedition Noatak
Organizing Your Bug Out Location
The other day my wife and I were up at the camp / bug out location checking on things. We go up there, check the doors, check the windows, look for any physical damage that might have resulted from a break in. We also take inventory – bottled water, soft drinks, plates, plastic spoons and forks, canned goods, MREs, ammo,,,, stuff like that.
While I was checking the front bed room and closet, I noticed that the closet has a lot of wasted room. In the right hand corner of the closet sites 2 or 3 ammo cans loaded with 223, 7.62×39, 9mm, 357 magnum, and 45 acp. Besides the ammo cans, there is a lot of wasted space that could be used for shelving.
Awhile back I posted a thread in the forum about organizing my MRE stockpile. But that thread only talked about organizing your MREs, but what about everything else?
Bugging out to the wilderness plans
It was probably around 1997 or 1998, some of my buddies were over at my house and we were talking about possible situations that might cause a wilderness bug out. We were talking about an outbreak of the plague, nuclear strikes, nuclear targets, radiation fallout, wind currents,,,,,,; it was one of those brain storming sessions we used to have.
Eventually the topic of firearms came up, choice of calibers, being able to carry plenty of ammo,,, and so on.
It was at this time I pulled out a large ALICE pack, a Mossberg 500 with 18.5 inch barrel and an H&K SP-89 pistol. As I look back on the situation, and what we were discussing, neither of those weapons would be good for survival.
The Mossberg 500 with 18.5 inch barrel and pistol grip would be a terrible choice for hunting. The pistol grip makes the weapon difficult to aim, and the short barrel means a poor pattern. If this shotgun would have had a stock on it and a longer barrel, then it would be a different story.
The H&K SP-89 is a great pistol for close quarters combat, but it would be a poor choice for hunting deer or wild hogs. The lack of a shoulder stock makes the pistol almost impossible to aim.
Making bug out plans
Some type of disaster has either arrived or is heading your way – whether its an earthquake, hurricane, food shortages due to a new disease outbreak,,,,, you and your family need to get out of the city. You have made plans to stay at a rural farm with some friends, but the problem is getting out of the city.
Fuel – the very first problem your going to run into is having enough fuel to get out. Once the panic buying starts, fuel is going to be one of the first things people buy up. Everyone will be filling up their gas cans, cars, trucks, generators, 55 gallon drums,,,, and as a result, the gas stations will be cleaned out. The first people to leave the cities will help finish off the fuel supplies in rural areas. So don’t think that your going to find a gas station in a small town to get fuel, its not going to happen, everyone else will beat you to it.
Maps – as the major roadways become clogged with cars and trucks, your going to need to find an alternate route. When parts of southeast Texas evacuated for Hurricane Ike, people from Houston, Port Arthur, Bridge City, Lumberton, Orange,,,, sat in line for hours. On high 69/96/287 leaving Port Arthur, Texas – people were running out of gas sitting on the highway. The highway department had to send tanker trucks out to fill peoples cars and trucks up with fuel to keep the lines moving. What normally took a 1 hour drive, took 10 hours.
Bug out location essentials
This past weekend was opening deer season for rifle hunters. While I was at the deer camp, I noticed a few things that would make life a little easier at a Bug Out Location. Lets take a look at some of the items on the list and talk about them.
Running water – modern civilization is built off of several things: running water, sanitation and the ability to make hot water, only to name a few. Having a raised water tower makes most of the items on that list possible. Through running water we are able to wash our hands, flush our toilets, and run water through a hot water heater (propane powered of course).
Having a raised water tower is easier then a lot of people think. Farm supply stores sell water tanks is sizes like 250 gallon, 500 gallon and 750 gallon. With the help of some power tools, stainless steel or galvanized lag bolts, rubber strips for washers, drill bits, some 8 – 10 foot round poles for legs, PVC pipes and fittings, some hard work, sweat and custom engineering, its very possible to have your very own raised water tower. With the base of the tower just 5 – 6 feet off the ground, this can create enough pressure for people to wash their hands, fill a toilet, and maybe even run the water through a small hot water heater.
Bug out location cooking solutions
Its one thing to have a remote camp that you and your family visits on the weekends, its another thing to have this camp prepped and ready to go for a disaster. Having the camp prepped means the difference between having a bug out location, or having a weekend get away. One of the comforts of modern life we take for granted is the ability to cook. We walk into the kitchen, and turn on the oven, stove, microwave, crock pot, or toaster without ever giving it a single thought – until the power goes off that is.
What are your plans for cooking with no electricity? Some people might have a grill on the back porch, some people might have a wood burning stove, with others may have no cooking options at all. Some people might have natural gas – but natural gas requires pumps to be working between your house and the natural gas supplier. When those pumps stop working, the natural gas stops flowing.
Lets divide cooking into three layers:
Personal cooking
Family / Unit cooking
Communal cooking
Personal cooking – this is a small camp fire, or maybe a single burner stove, something just big enough to cook for 1 or 2 people. Examples could include a Vargo stove, camp fire, Coleman 533 dual fuel stove, single burner propane stove,,, something just big enough to cook for 1 or 2 people.
Where would you hunt post TEOTWAWKI
Yesterday evening while heading to the woods for a hog hunting trip, an interesting conversation came up between everyone in the truck – “where will you be hunting at this deer season?” My son and I are on a deer lase, so we have a place to hunt. But the other 2 people in the truck do not have a place where they can not. They have to rely on the kindness of other people to give them permission to hunt on their land.
This got me to thinking, where would you hunt in a post long term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI situation? If you do not have a place to hunt now, what makes you think your going to have one after the fact?
A lot of survivalist plan on “bugging out to the wilderness in a long term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI situation. So having a place to go and a place to hunt might go hand in hand.
If you – do not own land, not on a deer lease (which grants you a legal right to be on the land), don’t have friends with benefits, or know where the public hunting land is, where will you hunt at?
Owing land in a rural area might the ideal situation for most survivalist, but for a lot of people, is just not realistic. The majority of the people live and work in the city. So if they own property in a rural area, they have to maintain the house they live in, and maintain a remote camp.
Testing Disaster Plans
Its one thing to have disaster plans, its another thing to test those plans several times a year. So when is a good time to test your plans? Personally, I like to observe how things go during holidays and events. Even during birthdays parties, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter,,,,, anytime people gather at my house I like to observe everyone and see how things go. Do we have enough hand soap, were we able to cook for everyone, were we crowded in the house, were the bathrooms accessible,,,,,.
The most recent test was Labor Day, 2010 – during labor day weekend my family and I headed to the camp for 2 days. Early saturday morning my wife got up and went to the local wal-mart to get some last minute stuff. From her report the store was fully stocked on just about everything besides meat – steaks, briskets, sausage,,,, stuff like that. I figured that people coming into the area would have cleaned wal-mart out.
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